


Swing and a Hit

by I May Age Regress (shnuffeluv), TheGriefPolice



Series: Gibbs' Family [32]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Admiral McGee's A+ Parenting, Age Play, Canon-Typical Violence, Case Fic, Diapers, Fluff, Food Fights, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Non-Sexual Age Play, Punishment, Serial Killers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2016-08-25
Packaged: 2018-08-10 22:16:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7863235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shnuffeluv/pseuds/I%20May%20Age%20Regress, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGriefPolice/pseuds/TheGriefPolice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a case going on at NCIS that is wearing thin on everyone, but what happens when it wears McGee too thin?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

This time, it was Kate’s body lying at the crime scene. Her body was face down and twisted at odd angles, arms splayed at her sides with her brown hair brushing her arms in the light breeze. A large slice ran from one ear to the other, and the blood had the stained the dirt beneath a deep red. She was completely naked as well, showing the large burn into the small of her back.The only reason they knew this wasn’t just a sex crime

Last time, it was Tony. His body had been sitting down, a piece of fabric covering his parts with the same ear to ear slit, blood running down his toned chest and soaking into the fabric of the chair. 

Both scenes were horrible representations of what humans were truly capable of. But neither seemed to be done in anger. The scenes were completely clean, save for the bodies. No fingerprints, no shoe prints, nothing. Just a number on a small piece of run-of-the-mill college ruled paper. Nothing to show who had brutally murdered the agents. Or rather, the agents’ doppelgangers. 

Someone was out there, trying to send the team a message in the most gruesome way possible: by killing anyone who bore a striking enough resemblance to its members. The problem was, that no one knew why-or how-the person was finding these people.

And it was getting on Gibbs’ last nerve rather quickly. 

“DiNozzo! Where is that camera?! I need pictures of the crime scene before we can bag and tag anything!” The tall man with silver hair kept short and a face that would scare any person within half a mile of it’s presence yelled.

“I’m coming, boss. I’m coming as fast as I can!” Tony shouted from the back of the van, digging desperately through the bags they brought to find that camera so he wouldn’t be victim of yet another head slap on this case. “Probie, where did you hide the camera?”

“What makes you think that  _ I _ did it?” McGee asked, donning gloves and looking for the evidence bags. They were all so frazzled from the case nothing was where it should have been.

“Because you were the one who had it last!” Tony yelled. “Now where. Did. You. Put! It?!” He cocked his head just slightly with every word, his teeth showing through unmoving lips.

“I don’t know!” McGee yelled back. “You were in charge of packing it this time. I told you where it was back at the base, if it’s not here then you must have left it!”

Kate walked up to the truck from where she had been dodging Gibbs around the crime scene. “Tony, I hate to say this, but McGee’s right. He told you where the camera was. And you said you would pack it, but you had to pull a file for Gibbs and I never saw you pick it up.”

Tony paled. “Oh, no.”

“ _ DiNozzo _ !” Gibbs yelled. “If you don’t come out here with that camera right now, I’m taking it out of your paycheck!”

“I think the camera’s at the office, boss!” Tony called back, and McGee visibly cringed at how nervous Tony sounded.

Gibbs stormed over and Kate and McGee made themselves look busy so as not to get in their boss’ way.

“You did  _ what _ .” It wasn’t a question. Gibbs was pissed, everyone could see that clear as day. For as much as the man said he didn’t wear his emotions on his sleeve, he sure wore them on his face.

Tony swallowed a lump in his throat, forcing a small smile onto his face. “I think I, uh, forgot the camera back at the office.”

Gibb’s eyes stared right through Tony, silently making the man happy that looks could not, in fact, kill. The happiness was short lived as Gibbs stuck out his hand and yelled, “Palmer!”

“Yes, sir?” The skinny newbie asked, pushing his rounded glasses up his face.

“Camera. Now.” Gibbs didn’t take his eyes off Tony as Palmer took the strap off his neck and placed his camera in the older man’s outstretched hand without a word. “And don’t call me sir.”

“Yes, si--I mean, uh, Gibbs.” Palmer quickly recovered, taking a few steps back. When Gibbs didn’t say anything, he turned his back and walked briskly to the ME truck.

Gibbs shoved the camera to Tony’s chest with a hard thunk, blue eyes digging into the younger man’s soul. “Forget again, and I’m going to start cutting off body parts.”

Tony flinched as Gibbs walked away, then turned to McGee with a glare. “Probie!”

McGee flashed a small smile, happy that his tormentor had a little payback for once. “Your own fault.”

Tony was about to open his mouth when he was cut short by Kate. “Tim’s right. Now stop arguing. We have a job to do.”

Tony’s eyes were still narrowed at McGee as he moved towards the body, having to hold down the shiver that ran down his spine at the sight of his-not currently, but most of the time-friend. The resemblance was scary accurate. Right down to the color of her nails. He snapped a few pictures, having to look up to make sure that it was not, in fact, Kate.

McGee was having a similar problem. Save for the Tony thing, a smile hadn’t reached his face in days. Someone was going after his friends--his co-workers. Slicing their throats and leaving them to bleed out. Much to say, he wasn’t getting much sleep, either.

He watched as Kate stayed close to the truck, probably not even aware that she wasn’t getting closer than three yards away from the body. She was poking through the grass and dirt of the park, looking for any kind of evidence. Tony had a solid grimace plastered to his face that wasn’t coming off anytime soon as he moved around the naked form.

Four days ago, when they had gotten the call of a man dead on a Marine base South of them, no one had expected the slap across the face that it had become. Seeing Tony--even if it wasn’t the real man. It was wearing on them and McGee dug through hours upon hours of video from the base, pulling every face and running them through every database available, only to get nothing. If possible, seeing Kate’s body made it worse. It almost made McGee want to...but he couldn’t. Not here. He couldn’t be little at a crime scene.

Gibbs was looking on at the scene, stony faced. He wasn’t showing outwardly how worried he was, but by how tense he was, this case was going to weigh on him until they could find the killer. Tony was taking pictures and McGee felt like he was going to be sick, and had to keep glancing at the real Kate to make sure that the doppelganger was just that. When Tony finished taking pictures, he and McGee started to bag and tag as quickly as they could, while not-Kate’s body was loaded onto a gurney and taken to autopsy. Tony and McGee packed up the last of the evidence and climbed back into the van they had come in with Kate and Gibbs, and, once everyone was inside, they drove back to the office.

Kate was in the bullpen, furiously typing at her computer, pulling up files of possible suspects and sifting through them. McGee was doing the same, but Tony and Gibbs were nowhere to be found. “Have anything yet?” Gibbs asked, walking in, coffee in hand.

“Uh, not yet...” McGee said.

“I just have a bigger suspect pool,” Kate sighed.

“People! We need a lead here!” Gibbs snapped.

“We know, boss. But this is taking time,” McGee pleaded.

“Time we don’t have,” Kate groaned, burying her face in her hands. “We don’t even know why the killer is targeting us.”

“I have a name, boss,” Tony said, rushing into the room and putting his computer up on the plasma. With a flick of the remote, a dusty picture popped up of a man in a black hat driving a silver car. Even though it wasn’t high definition, Gibbs could make out the man’s small nose and half-shaved face, as if he had been rushing and didn’t check to make sure he hadn’t missed any spots.

“Tommy Guinness was seen at the scene of both crimes within the hour of TOD off intersection cameras. It’s not much, but...”

“It’s a start,” Gibbs said, sitting down at his desk. “I want his full history. DMV, criminal record, everything. If he got detention in the 4th grade, I want to know about it.”

“On it, boss,” Tony replied with a nod, sitting down at his desk and typing furiously on his computer.

The team lapsed into a tense silence with each other, one that was only punctuated by phone calls or one teammate asking another for what they had on Tommy Guinness to compare notes, as it were. Gibbs’s face twisted as he made an  _ ah _ noise when he searched Guinness in NCIS records and found a cold case file.

“Kate, McGee. We have a case file relating to one Olivia Guinness. Find out everything you can about it and see if there’s anything we may have missed the first time around investigating with the family. And do it fast.”

“You got it,” Kate said, standing up from her desk and walking to the elevator with McGee close at her heels to look for the evidence and paper file that were hidden among the many other cold case files.

The ride in the elevator was quiet, but less tense than the past few days had been, now that they had a potential lead. The only problem was the “lead” was hidden under several years of dust and buried with all of the other forgotten files. Cold cases were not something an agent like to see, so tucking them away in the basement was nothing anyone questioned. Until, of course, those agents were unfortunate enough to have to sift through them. 

“This is going to take forever,” McGee sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“Yeah,” Kate agreed, walking into the rows of boxes and files. “Let’s get started. If we’re lucky we might be able to go to Gibbs’s place for dinner tonight,  _ if _ we find the file before then.”

“ _ If _ ,” McGee scoffed, following behind Kate and pulling a box off the shelf.

Any organization that may have been the the basement was long lost as agents regularly pulled files and shoved them back where ever they fit. This made searching for any single file a long process that most agents saw as beneath their skill set. But it was Kate’s sharp eyes that caught the case number fading on the side of a box that, otherwise, might have been lost forever to time and dust. She and McGee pulled the case down and carried it up to the bullpen together to look through.

It was a small box, a few loose papers shoved haphazardly into a file and a knife that had been found at the scene. A few samples of dirt and water were taken, but the box was otherwise empty.

Tony found the file interesting, though, claiming it right as Kate pulled it out and thumbing through the papers.

“Thomas Guinness, son of Olivia and Patrick Guinness.” Tony read, looking over to Gibbs to see if the man was listening. “The boy was 13 when his mother was killed. He would easily be an adult now, able to look for victims in a crowded place without being suspected, and then dropping the bodies off at naval bases. And, his mother’s killer was never found. Had to make him angry, could be motive.”

“McGee, I want background.” Gibbs’s voice was only a step away from a bark as he gave orders. “Kate, call whoever you need to. I want a warrant on this guy ten minutes ago. DiNozzo, you’re on family. I want everything his mother did and how she died. Two birds, one stone.”

The team nodded, agreeing quickly. McGee sat down at his computer and pulled up everything he could find on Tommy Guinness without a warrant. Kate started making calls to judges to see if they could get a warrant for Tommy’s arrest, and, short of that, his medical records to see how his mental state had been over the last few years. Tony left via the elevator once he had the Guinness household’s address and had that determined look that said he wouldn’t come back without an answer. Gibbs stood up to get coffee, not looking forward to explaining to the director about their overtime and why waking up judges at inopportune hours of the night to get warrants was needed. Though, if they did manage to bring in both killers, it would help their case.

Three hours later, they had Tommy Guinness’s medical records, his address, a juvenile rap sheet about a mile long, a warrant, and a ticked off team to raise Cain. The one thing they were lacking to make their case and get a confession, though, was some concrete evidence that Guinness was targeting them.

He sat in the interrogation room, staring at the double sided glass with a knowing smile twisting his face. Kate and McGee stood on the other side, watching the man as he seemed to be only a step away from a happy dance.

“I don’t like this. He knows something we don’t,” McGee said, tapping his fingers on his arm.

“Neither do I,” Kate sighed, turning away from the man who was starting to creep her out. “Call Tony. Tell him he better check every place there is to hide something. Creeps like him keep trophies, they have to, to show they’ve done something with their lives.”

McGee nodded. “How about I call Tony, then check with Abby to see what she’s been able to get off him. With any luck, Gibbs can scare him into a confession based on circumstantial evidence Abby can find.”

Kate nodded, waving at him as she turned to one of the tech guys to ask a question and McGee was off. The trip to Abby’s lab was more muscle memory than thought as he typed Tony’s number into his phone and held it to his ear.

“DiNozzo,” Tony answered, the same exhausted tone to his voice as McGee was sure invaded his own.

“Tony, there’s something weird with this guy. He’s hiding something. Kate thinks he has trophies stashed someplace,” McGee explained as he approached the lab.

A moment of silence followed, then the sound of ruffling fabric before Tony was back on the phone. “I can see why. Tell Kate I’ll be back soon. Gibbs should already be back by now. He’ll be dead if he doesn’t get this guy to confess.”

The call ended just as the elevator McGee didn’t remember stepping in dinged and the doors opened. The sound of buzzing music hit his ears immediately, Abby’s form bouncing up and down as she worked away.

“Abby!” McGee had to shout.

The woman’s black ponytails flinging around as she turned and smiled at him. “McGee!” she bounded over to him with a smile.

“Abby, why is your music so loud today? I can barely hear myself think!” McGee yelled over the bass pounding away at his inner-ear.

“No, I don’t like disco! Why would you even ask that?” Abby yelled back, a look of  _ you did not  _ spread across her face.

McGee went to her stereo and turned the music off. His ears felt like they were stuffed with cotton. “Abby,” he growled. “The mu--not important, we can talk about it later, I guess. What do you have on the Guinness case?”

Abby flipped around, nearly pounding on her keyboard as a screen popped up, a line spiking and diving like a mountain range. “The dirt found around the body is nothing special. Your basic mix of Virginia clay and trees. However, there was an abnormal amount of clay for that area. The place the body was found near is ten counties from the nearest mine where you would find clay in those kinds of quantities.”

“So what you’re saying is someone had to bring it over?” McGee asked, his brain a little slower than normal due to lack of sleep and any kind of food.

“Exactly, McGee,” Abby said, a smile pulling at her lips. “This guy has a specific killing site, like most serial killers. Find the site, find the evidence, find the conviction.”

“Great, thanks Abby,” McGee said, pulling out his phone to call Gibbs.

“Already called Gibbs a while ago,” Abby said in a sing-song tone. “Kate said he was upstairs and after the guy already. His whole ‘let ‘em stew’ thing was taking too long, I guess.”

“And you didn’t bother to tell me?” McGee asked. “I really wanted to see Gibbs tear into this guy!”

“Oh, c’mon Tim! You never come to see me any more!” Abby patted him on the shoulder, with her smile less certain on her face than before.

“Abby, this guy has been metaphorically killing the team off for days! I wanted to see him get taken down  _ so bad _ , and because you think my not coming down here unless we’re on a case, which, let me remind you, is sorta  _ my job _ , you ruined it!” McGee yelled, swinging his arms out wide, and accidentally slapping Abby on the side of the cheek. Not enough to cause damage, but it had to sting.

“ _ Timothy Farragut McGee _ !” a voice rang out, louder and harder than the man had ever heard before. The man was frozen in place, one arm still high in the air and the other closer to his side. He was too scared to turn around as something slammed on the table and Gibbs walked into view.

The man’s blue eyes were rolling in anger, something McGee recognized from years of living on navy bases. There weren’t any words, but McGee was  _ sure _ he heard yelling.

“Gibbs, he didn’t--”

“Cut it,” Gibbs snapped coldly, shutting Abby up. “Upstairs, now.”

McGee didn’t question it, didn’t resist it, didn’t even think about it. He walked as quickly as he could out of the lab and into the elevator. Gibbs followed behind, bringing with him an air that was so taut with anger that, if McGee had a knife, he could have swiped it through the air and spread it on bread.

Though he was a little preoccupied, first with wondering how he had accidentally hit Abby, and, second with worrying about what Gibbs was going to do to him.

Gibbs didn’t freeze the cabin liked McGee had thought he would, and as he stepped into the bullpen, the joyous attitude dissipated almost immediately. 

“What’s going on, Boss? Guinness didn’t get out of anything, did he?” Tony asked uncertainly.

Gibbs shook his head no, pulling out his badge and gun before saying, “Everyone at my house tonight. Manditory.”

“Does that include Abby and Ducky?” Kate asked.

“If they’ll come,” Gibbs said. “Though I’m not sure Abby would leap on the opportunity tonight.”

The two heads nodded in agreement as they collected their things to get going. McGee followed behind Gibbs the whole way, knowing to assume he was off the hook would be the signature on his own death certificate. And maybe Gibbs would go easy on him if he listened to instructions...but one look on Gibbs’ face said that would never happen in McGee’s wildest dreams.

As they reached the parking garage, Kate and Tony peeled off to their cars, McGee putting a foot forward to do the same before Gibbs grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him back. “Nope. You’re riding with me.”

McGee swallowed a knot that was quickly forming in his throat before Gibbs yelled out, “Kate! Drive Tony, would ya?”

Tony let out a groan, mad that Gibbs had noticed he was already slipping. It had been a hard few days, and his mind really needed the break. He was already chewing on his fingers as he slipped into the back of Kate’s car.

McGee was having similar problems as they made their way back to Gibb’s house. It was a toss up between little Timmy and Agent McGee, though he was clearly tipping to one side severely as he squirmed in his seat. Gibbs glanced over at him but didn’t say anything. McGee wondered if he was in the pre-interrogation phase of Gibbs’ anger, and, if so, how bad the interrogation would be.


	2. Chapter 2

When they pulled into the driveway, Kate’s headlights following them soon thereafter, McGee didn’t expect the hand on his shoulder that lead him into the house. The same hand Kate currently had on Tony to guide him with minimal contact so he wouldn’t really notice it.  _ I wonder if it’s also with a little bit of disdain _ , his brain added helpfully.

Once in the house, Gibbs all but pushed McGee up the stairs and into his shared room. McGee didn’t know exactly where this was going, but knew it was nothing good when Gibbs pulled out  _ two _ onesies from the closet instead of one. As his brain was mulling over the clothing, Gibbs moved around behind him to the dresser and pulled out two diapers. McGee turned around and noticed this quickly, his mouth drying as everything started to click into place.

“B-boss--”

“Not a word,” Gibbs instructed, pushing lightly on McGee’s-or really, Timmy’s-shoulder to get him to lay down.

Timmy whimpered. He had been diapered by Gibbs before, and it wasn’t an  _ unpleasant _ experience, per say, but the anger in his papa’s eyes made him want to curl up somewhere and hide away for several days.

“Pa-papa, I-I’m not that little,” he whined around the nails he was currently chewing on.

“Really? Because the way you acted today with Abby seemed like something someone Tony’s age would do. Throwing a tantrum just because things didn’t go your way?” Gibbs had an eyebrow up in question but a look on his face that said he wasn’t joking around.

“I...I didn’t mean to!” Timmy defended, though the excuse sounded lame, even to him.

“I know you didn’t, but since you can’t seem to mind your manners, you’re going to be very little today. This is a lesson you will do well to only learn once.” Gibbs pulled off Timmy’s pants first, noticing out of the corner of his eye as Katie and Tony stood in the doorway. Then came his shirt and, lastly, his underwear, which were quickly replaced with a diaper taped closed and hugging tightly to his hips.

Gibbs worked a onesie over the boy’s head, and pulled his arm through before snapping the buttons close between his legs. “There. You can go play now. But only with Tony’s stuff. I see you even looking at the toys Katie has and you’ll be in big trouble.”

Timmy nodded his head, tears threatening to push over when he noticed that Katie and Tony had watched it all. He pushed past them and into the hallway, then down the stairs. Each movement he made reminded him of the bulk between his legs and the way he had hurt Abby. He briefly wondered why Gibbs even bothered punishing him, if Timmy was never going to forgive himself.

Tony was getting ready, he knew, but somehow that made the whole situation worse. He didn’t deserve someone to play with, he didn’t deserve to play at all, in his mind. He had hit his best friend, and over what? Missing an interrogation? An important interrogation, but it wasn’t more important than Abby.

By the time Gibbs made it downstairs with Tony and Katie trailing behind, Timmy was a ball of tears on the floor, wailing away. Gibbs walked over, pulling the boy into his lap and holding his shaking form.

“I-I didn’t mean t-t-to--” Timmy’s words were cut off by a hiccup as he buried his face into his papa’s shirt, fists wrapped tightly around the material. 

“Ssh, ssh, buddy,” Gibb’s cooed. “I know you didn’t mean to, but you still did. You need to not lash out at others when you’re angry, okay? That’s what this is about.”

Gibbs’s hand ran through the boy’s hair, trying to calm his as best he could. When it seemed like the worst of the tears were past, Gibbs leaned back and got a look at Timmy’s face. “Take this time as a step back so that you can reset and take a different path, okay?”

Timmy nodded, wiping the back of his hand under his nose to get rid of the snot. Gibbs gave him a hug and left him on the floor as he went of to do “papa things”.

The boy didn’t expect arms to be wrapping around his from behind, a head of dark brown hair resting on his shoulder. “It okay, Timmy!” Tony said, face twisted in seriousness when he looked up. 

Katie sat down beside him and Tony across from her, forming a lopsided circle. 

“What did you do?” Katie asked, looking over her shoulder as Gibbs pulled out Timmy’s box of toys, setting them farther away from the living room than normal.

“I got mad and I hit Abby.” Both faces popped up, alert as their brother explained. “I didn’t mean to!”

Katie still winced, sorry for Timmy, but happy it hadn’t been her. “So what’s your punishment?”

Timmy swiped at his nose again, sniffling. “I gotta be Tony’s age today. Papa say’s it’s to help me make better choices next time.”

Tony’s face lit up. “So you’re gonna play with me?”

Nodding, Timmy looked over at the toy chest that housed his normal play things, then over to the corner where a basket held all of Tony’s littler toys. Tony started bobbing on his legs, a smile from ear to ear. Tony dragged Timmy to his toys and Timmy sighed through his nose, hoping no one would hear.

“Cheer up, Timmy!” Tony said. “This way, at least you can play with me without Papa saying that some of the toys are for big boys and taking some of them away!”

“I know...” Timmy said. That  _ was _ a step up from what usually happened, and it wasn’t like he didn’t enjoy playing with Tony--he did. But he didn’t like to be forced to play with Tony or not play at all, and he especially didn’t like being babied. He could hear his father scoffing at him now...

“Timmy?” Tony asked, waving a hand in Timmy’s face.

The boy blinked, focusing on Tony. “Huh?”

“You ‘kay?” Tony asked, frowning. “You sorta...spaced out there for a minute.”

Timmy smiled unconvincingly. “Yeah, I’m okay. Just thinking about things.”

“What sortsa things?” Tony asked, passing Timmy a few plastic animals.

Timmy scowled. “ _ Personal _ sorts of things,” he quipped, pleased he could come up with an adult sounding (to him, at least,) response.

Tony gave Timmy a look. The sort of look Papa got when he didn’t believe Timmy. “I can tell Papa you lied to me,” Tony threatened.

“And what proof would you have? It’s my word against yours, and I don’t lie for attention like  _ you _ ,” Timmy argued.

“No, you just throw tantrums and hit people when you don’t get your way,” Tony growled.

“Boys,” Gibbs warned from the kitchen. “You better not be fighting in there.”

“No, Papa,” both boys said, more afraid of their father’s tone than each other. They glared at one another as they played silently.

Katie seemed happy enough to leave the two to their argument and play by herself for a little while. It was different, just playing by herself. Timmy made up lots of fun stories to go along with whatever they were playing. Even “house” was more than a simple game. They’d be the queen and king of some far off land raising a child who would become a dragon rider.

As she looked around at her scattering of toys, she decided she’d rather play with baby toys with someone else than play by herself. It just wasn’t near as much fun without someone else.

“What’re you guys playing?” she asked. The two boys sat several feet away from each other, one playing with blocks while the other played with cars that were big enough to be safe for them.

“Not much...” Tony said with a sigh and looking over at Tim. “He’s the one who makes up all the cool stories.”

“Yeah, but you make all the cool sounds,” Timmy said, holding up his blocks. “These aren’t really all that fun without them.”

“We could play together,” Katie said, sitting down cross-legged between the two boys.

“Yeah, but these are all baby toys. They’re not as much fun as our normal stuff,” Timmy sighed, setting the blocks down.

“Hey! They are too fun!” Tony said a little louder than he meant to. He looked over his shoulder to see if Papa had heard, but the man was still in the kitchen.

“It can still be fun!” Katie smiled and took some of the blocks from the pile, forming what looked like a lopsided tower. “See, this can be the castle.”

“It looks sideways,” Timmy said, wrinkling his nose.

“That’s because,” Katie said, grabbing a few toy cars. “all the people in this world have been cursed, and turned into cars! They can’t build a proper castle until they fix the curse!”

Timmy’s face lit up as he crawled over to the toy bin, pulling out one of Tony’s large bouncy balls and an oversized action figure that couldn’t move. “And it’s up to the bouncy ball people of a neighboring planet and their hero Gibbs Man to save them!”

Tony was bouncing on his legs a little, excited about this new game. “Yeah yeah yeah! I wanna be Bouncy Ball Man!” He stuck out his hand wiggling it hopefully and Timmy handed over the ball.

Timmy held the action figure just above the cars. “Gibbs Man has to assess the situation first. What’s the sitrep?”

“All the people seem to have been changed into cars!” Tony said, moving his bouncy ball around.

“Well I can  _ see _ that, Bouncy Ball Man,” Timmy said in his best exasperated Gibbs voice. “I  _ meant _ , what can we do about it?”

“It’s the evil Lord Block!” Katie moved around on of the cars to show it was talking. “He’s never liked us! He made us build him this castle and is mad that we didn’t do it right!”

“Yeesh. Sounds like a certain boss I know of,” Tony joked, moving his bouncy ball around.

Timmy made the action figure slap the back of the bouncy ball and all three kids started laughing their heads off.

“What’s all this?” Gibbs asked from the entry way. They had all seemed mad at each other and now they were laughing away. He shook his head as all three kid’s faces came up with trouble making smiles.

“Nothing!” they said in unison.

“ _ Really _ ,” Gibbs said, smirking. “Because it sounded to me like  _ someone _ was teasing their Papa?” He looked at Timmy.

Timmy giggled and shook his head innocently. “This isn’t Papa, this is Gibbs Man,” he explained simply, waving the action figure.

“I see,” Gibbs said, now trying not to laugh himself. “And Gibbs Man likes to slap the back of people’s heads?”

“Only when they don’t follow the rules or say something at the wrong time,” Tony explained.

Gibbs laughed at that, because that was totally what Tony was always getting head slaps for, and was about to add something when the front door opened. 

“Uncle Ducky!” Timmy exclaimed in excitement.

Ducky walked into the house, dressed in his normal button up with a red bow tie and suspenders to match, with a look that said he meant business. The older man walked over and gave Timmy a good, hard-enough-to-say-he-meant-it-but-not-too-hard head slap before hugging him. “If you ever hit Abby again, you’ll have to deal with more than that,” he warned.

“It was an accident, promise,” Timmy said seriously.

“I know,” Abby said from behind him, hugging Timmy. “And I hope that I didn’t get you in too much trouble, cuz.”

She leaned back, pigtails waving around as looked up and saw Katie. Her smile grew to twice the size before she ran over and squeezed the girl tightly. “Katie! It’s so good to see you!”

Katie hugged Abby back. “You too, Abby!”

“So…about earlier today…is Timmy in a lot of trouble?” Abby asked, worry in her voice.

“He has to be as little as Tony tonight, but that’s about it,” Katie said with a shrug. “Just enough to teach him a lesson, you know?”

Abby nodded, before getting a devilish grin on her face. “If he has to be that little...does that mean we can babysit him together tonight?”

Katie’s eyes widened with the realization, and she grinned too. “I don’t know, should we ask our dads?”

Tony and Timmy looked at each other in horror at the turn this conversation was taking. “We have to convince Papa to not let them babysit us!” Tony whispered.

Timmy raised his eyebrows and tilted his chin down in his best  _ you think? _ look. Katie and Abby turned to Gibbs and Ducky and, together, put on their best puppy-dog eyes. “Daddy? Can Katie and I babysit Tony and Timmy tonight?” Abby asked sweetly, batting her eyelashes a little.

Ducky looked to Gibbs. “Well, I think Jethro should be the one to answer that question. What do you think, Jethro?”

Gibbs looked behind the two girls to see the two boys frantically shaking their heads and silently pleading for him to say no. “Sure, so long as you ask us for help the second you feel you can’t deal with whatever is going on by yourselves. Ducky and I can stay in the kitchen,” Gibbs said, leading Ducky there and talking with him quietly.

Katie and Abby cheered, and Tony went to suck on his fingers anxiously while Timmy just hung his head in defeat. He looked up, however, when he saw a pair of orange and black knee-high socks in front of him. Abby was grinning down at him. “I think I get a little payback myself after today, don’t you, Katie?” she asked the other girl.

“Definitely,” Katie said, going over to Tony and pulling his fingers out of his mouth, replacing them with a pacifier from the toy bin.

“Wh-what k-k-kind of payback?” Timmy asked warily, glancing around.

Abby ignored him and ruffled his hair. “Now, then, Timmy,” Abby said with a grin. “Let’s see what we can do to put you in your place today.”

“J-just don’ hurt me,” Timmy pleaded.

Abby bounced on her toes lightly. “You know that isn’t my style,” Abby said sternly. “No one here wants to hurt you. But I think adding a little insult to injury wouldn’t hurt, now would it?”

Timmy whined. “B-but isn’t what Papa did enough?”

“He did what he did to teach you a lesson,” Abby explained. “I’m gonna do what I’m gonna do to level the playing field.”

Timmy definitely didn’t like the sound of  _ that _ . “H-how?”

Abby grinned and turned to Katie. “Does Tony have extra pacifiers? One that you can clean off real quick?”

Timmy’s eyes widened as Katie eagerly nodded. “Yeah, in the bedroom, gimme a sec.”

She ran off and Timmy leaned back away from Abby to try and get her to put him down, but she just put an arm on his back so he couldn’t fall, and he didn’t dare thrash around after what happened to land him in this mess. Katie returned with a pacifier that was obviously wet, probably because of cleaning wipes, and Abby forced it into Timmy’s mouth. “Keep that there like the good baby I know you can be,” Abby said.

“Wait! I have something even better!” Katie smiled, running up the stairs once more. Each step she made boomed through the house as she made her way back with a piece of fabric clutched in her hands. She held it up with a smile to Abby. “Try this!”

Abby took the balled up fabric and rolled it up, smiling when she realized what it was. Before Timmy had the time to react, Abby tied it around his neck and took a step back. The bib had a small design of a bee buzzing around a flower and definitely tied together their very little brother’s outfit.

Tony let out a laugh as he realized what the girls were doing, grabbing his feet and rocking back and forth with each wave of laughter. Timmy ducked his head and bit down on the pacifier, glad that, at least, Katie hadn’t brought out the security blanket he slept with.

“Can we do Tony, too?” Abby asked, looking over to Katie hopefully. “They could be twins!”

Katie bit her lip. “We’d have to be careful, if we laugh too hard Dad and Uncle Ducky might find out what we’re doing, and they might think we’re being mean. I don’t wanna get in trouble.”

“I’ll be super quiet, cross my heart,” Abby said, making a cross-motion over where the muscle would be.

“Me too, me too!” Tony cheered. He wasn’t really understanding  what it was they were really talking about, but happy to play along. They didn't all play together like this very often and he really enjoyed it.

“See, he wants to do it!” Abby smiled. “We won’t get in trouble for doing what he  _ asked _ us to do.”

Katie sighed. “You’re a horrible influence,” she muttered, pulling her hair out of her face. “Let me get another bib.”

Abby clapped her hands happily as Katie ran off once more, sitting down besides Timmy in the meantime. “You know I’m not really mad, right? It scared me a little, but it didn’t really hurt me.”

Timmy stared down at the ground, tracing circles on the floor. “I’m really really  _ really _ sorry,” he mumbled behind the pacifier, tears coming to his eyes. “I never wanted to hurt you, even if it was just a little bit.”

Abby nodded. “I know.”

“I...I don’ wanna be like my daddy at all, I want to be like Papa, and Papa would never hurt you,” Timmy said with conviction, the pacifier still hanging out of his mouth making it hard for Abby to not laugh. Though Abby frowned at the “not like daddy,” but didn’t want to pry since Timmy was clearly uncomfortable.

“Okay…so what were you guys playing before Dad and I came over?” she asked.

Timmy perked up and Tony came over to join the conversation. “All the people in this kingdom were cursed and turned into cars, and it was up to Gibbs Man and Bouncy Ball Man to save the day!”

Abby laughed. “Gibbs Man, huh? That’s really cute! Can I be the bad guy?”

Timmy and Tony eyed each other before smiling and nodded at Abby. At that moment Katie came back downstairs and quickly tied a bib around Tony before sitting down next to the boy, across from Abby and Timmy. “So...it sounded like we were gonna continue our game?”

“Abby’s the villain!” Timmy said, handing over one of the larger blocks with a frowning face on it.

Abby tried really hard not to snicker at the fact that one of the blocks had a frowning face crudely drawn on it in marker, and wondered if Gibbs knew Tony had been drawing on his toys. “What’s the villain’s name, then?” she asked.

“Lord Block,” Katie replied. “He’s the one that turned all the people into cars!”

“Ooh, how evil!” Abby said, straining the last word with a smile to match.

Timmy giggled and the pacifier dropped out of his mouth. To his surprise, though, he was a bit disappointed he had dropped it. He snatched it up again and stuck it back in his mouth, before grabbing the action figure and waving it around. “Bouncy Ball man, we need someone from this planet to show us where Lord Block lives!”

Tony nodded, taking the pacifier out of his mouth-though keeping it close-with his left hand as he moved the ball up and down. “They’re right this way!” He shifted the ball closer to where the car Katie had been playing with was left on the ground and Katie picked it up.

“I can show you the way!” she made the car say, driving it in a circle around the make-shift castle. “He’s right over there! Lord Block should be by the back gate!”

Timmy nodded, flying Gibbs Man behind her the whole time and then flew ahead, Bouncy Ball Man at his side the whole way. Abby waved the block in front of the two toys. “You two may catch me, but you’ll never destroy the source of magic in the castle that keeps the curse going!”

Tony grinned mischievously. “Oh, really?” he asked. “I’ll destroy it in one fell swoop!”

He threw the bouncy ball at the tower of blocks, and the wood chunks flew everywhere with a crash. Tony burst into giggles, while Timmy jumped and covered his face in fear.

“Tony!” Timmy yelled, on the verge of tears. “You scared me!”

Tony’s giggles quickly stopped as he looked at his brother's face. “I’m sorry! I didn’ mean to!”

“That seems to be a theme tonight,” Gibbs said from the entryway to the kitchen. “What happened here?”

“It’s okay, Dad. We were just playing and Tony lost his grip on his ball. He really didn’t mean to.” Katie said, standing up and dusting off imaginary dirt from her pants, knowing full well Tony had thrown the ball on purpose. But there was no reason for him to get in trouble over something so small when it had already been a long night. Besides, she hardly ever got to play “cool older sister” for them. “Is dinner almost ready?” she asked, hoping to change the subject.

Gibbs nodded, waving his hand. “Come into the kitchen, I’ve brought out the extra chairs.”

“Okay!” Katie smiled, skipping into the dinning room, looking over her shoulder to make sure the other three were doing the same before she took her seat.

They all sat down and Gibbs passed out mashed potatoes and meatloaf to each of the kids before making Ducky and himself a plate. Comfort food was always a safe bet after a week like the past one. Katie and Abby mostly dominated the conversation, talking about anything except work today. Gibbs was too busy listening to the conversation to notice that Tony had loaded some mashed potatoes onto his spoon and aimed at Timmy, pulling the spoon back and letting the mashed potatoes catapult into Timmy’s hair. 

The whole table went silent for ten seconds. Then, Timmy laughed and exclaimed, “Food fight!” throwing meatloaf back at Tony, leaving a sticky mess on his left cheek.

When Tony loaded his spoon once more and aimed it, it hit Katie’s hair, smearing down her ear and making her go red. “Oh, you’re in for it now!” she exclaimed, taking a spoonful of mashed potatoes, adding gravy to it, and missing Tony, hitting Abby on the nose.

Abby sat there, shocked, and rather than joining in, took a napkin to her nose to try and wipe the mess off. But the other three were now freely flinging food at each other, and everyone was getting caught in the crossfire, including Gibbs and Ducky. 

Ducky waved a hand through the air, utterly shocked into silence as a chunk of meat flew past his face and skidded across the floor.

The kids were so caught up in the fun, none of them had a chance to think about what may follow it. Gibbs stood from the table and yelled, “Anthony Dante DiNozzo, Caitlin Hannah Todd, and Timothy Farragut McGee! That’s enough!”

The three froze and looked over at Gibbs warily.

“Sorry?” Tony said, phrasing it like the question it was:  _ does that make up for it? _

Gibbs growled and sighed, sitting back down with a scowl on his face. “Right. You three, finish your dinners,  _ without _ throwing anything else, and then it’s bath time for all of you. And we  _ will _ talk about this.”

The rest of the dinner was held in awkward silence. Abby had gotten the worst off her face, but her clothes would definitely need to be washed, and she was very lucky nothing landed in her hair. Gibb’s shirt was now covered in gravy and miscellaneous stains, and Ducky had fared similarly but in lighter quantities. 

“I’ll pay for a new shirt, if it won’t come out,” Gibbs said, watching as the man wiped at some of the gravy with a napkin.

Ducky shook his head. “That won’t be necessary, Jethro, but thank you.”

When Katie, Tony, and Timmy were done, they all stood up on Gibbs’ orders and walked up to the bathroom, waiting in the hall while Gibbs got the water ready for whoever was going in first. Abby stood on the other side of the hall, wanting to show support but not knowing how. Gibbs walked out and put his hand on Tony’s shoulder. “You’re up, kid.”

Tony looked scared, looking back at his brother and sister for support or protection or  _ something _ , but both pairs of their eyes were bolted to the floor. Tony whined, but followed Gibbs into the bathroom, stripping down and getting into the tub.

“First things first, kiddo. We need to get that congealing stuff out of your hair,” Gibbs said.

He put some shampoo in his hands and worked it into a lather, before massaging Tony’s scalp. Tony sighed and sank lower in the bathtub at the sensation of Gibbs’ fingers working their way through his hair and pulling out all the gunk Timmy and Katie had managed to get into it. There was a gentle pressure there, but Tony got the distinct sense that, though he was going to be in trouble, Gibbs wouldn’t hurt him while he was like this.  _ That is what this should always feel like _ , he thought as he felt himself getting sleepy from the relaxing smells and Gibbs’ gentle presence. He rubbed at his eyes with his fists and yawned, getting a small laugh from the older man.

“Hey now, don’t go falling asleep on me.” Gibbs poured a cup of water over the boy’s head to get out the suds.

“‘M I still in trouble?” Tony asked. Since Gibbs was talking to him, then maybe--

“Oh, big time,” Gibbs whispered. “And you’ll be paying for it all next week as you do all the paperwork for the case that has yet to be done.”

Tony whined, but considered that a fair trade and nodded as Gibbs grabbed a washcloth and went to work on the boy’s face and arms, going mostly for any food that might still be on the boy. Tony would take a shower in the morning when he was big no matter if he had gotten a bath tonight, anyway.

“All right. Let’s get you dried before you fall asleep in the bathroom,” Gibbs pulled a towel out of the linen closet and sat it on the counter before lifting Tony out of the tub and having him stand so the older man could wrap a towel around the sleepy form. He walked to the door and stuck his head out. “Abby, could you get me a clean diaper and some pajamas from the closet and dresser in the room across the hall? I forgot to get them for Tony, and I have the feeling he won’t be able to stand on his feet long enough to get across the hall.”

Abby nodded and pushed the door open to find the room in its semi-mess. Luckily, a path had already been cleared to the closet and dresser. She pulled out a pair of footies and one of the many diapers from the dresser before walking back into the hall and handing them through the bathroom doorway. Gibbs took the items and changed Tony quickly before sending him out to wait with the others, which meant he fell asleep leaning against Abby’s legs the second he crawled over to her. Abby slipped down the wall, back resting against it as she sat on the floor so that Tony could lay his head on her lap.

“Timmy, you’re next,” Gibbs informed the other boy.

“Katie?” he pleaded quietly, turning to her, but she couldn’t meet his eyes. He knew what happened at this point. Alone, in a room with an adult who was mad at him, with no one around to see. His eyes were already welling up with tears and the bad part hadn’t even started yet.

“I won’t yell at you or hurt you, Timmy. I just want you cleaned up so we can talk about this as soon as possible,” Gibbs explained with the patience of a saint.

Timmy bit his lip and decided that he could trust his papa tonight, because he had the chance to hurt him before but didn’t, and he seemed sincere when he said he wouldn’t do anything bad. So he nodded, and followed Gibbs into the bathroom.

Abby glanced at Katie, then to the door, then to Katie again. “Does that happen a lot?”

“Pretty much whenever he gets in trouble, which is almost always, because he loves pulling pranks,” Katie said quietly, wringing her hands.

“I’ve heard Dad and Uncle Gibbs talking about this before. They say they think that Timmy was abused,” Abby whispered the last word quieter than the rest, like even saying it would cause harm to someone.

“Timmy…Timmy describes it as his father ‘taking corporal punishment too far too fast,’ and that’s all he’ll say about it to anyone. Except maybe Dad, but I wouldn’t know, ‘cause I’m not around when he does-- _ if _ he does,” Katie explained.

“Papa’d never hurt Timmy, right?” Tony asked, sitting up a little to look at his sister.

“Of course not,” Katie and Abby said at the same time.

“Uncle Gibbs is…Uncle Gibbs!” Abby continued. “And he’d never hurt anyone. Even Timmy says that, with all he’s been through.”

Timmy shuffled out of the bathroom with Gibbs into the bedroom, where he was changed before he promptly sat on the other side of Abby. “Could you  _ not _ talk about me when you think I can’t hear next time?” he asked quietly. “It makes me feel yucky inside.”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to make you feel yucky,” Katie said, giving her brother a tight hug.

“Katie, you’re up.” Gibbs called from the bathroom.

Katie smiled at the boys and her cousin before following into the bathroom and taking her bath.

Tony sat up from the other side of Abby and stared holes into the side of Timmy’s head, until he looked over. Timmy instinctively hunched over a little. “What?” he asked. “Is something wrong, Tony?”

“No,” Tony said, shaking his head. “I just…I’ve been there, too. You’re not…” he swallowed and looked at the ground. “You are  _ never _ alone. Okay?”

Timmy nodded, feeling tears coming to his eyes for a completely different reason than before, and leaned over Abby to hug Tony tight. “I’m sorry about your daddy,” he murmured.

“Me too,” Tony said, breaking the hug and smiling. “But now we both have Papa, who wouldn’t do anything like that to us.”

“And your cousin Abby who will hurt anyone who dares to threaten my two favorite little guys!” Abby smiled, pulling them both back in for a awkward hug. Timmy and Tony were laughing as they tried to push her away.

“And an Uncle that you can always call when you want to talk. Or just want someone to talk to you.” Ducky said as he came up the stairs. He had been meaning to check on Gibbs’s progress, but couldn’t miss the touching moment.

“And a big sister that can put all of those bad guys in jail!” Katie yelled from the bathroom. “You know, after Abby beats them up.”

The whole hall was in giggles now, each person bouncing energy off the other for a while before the laughs finally died out, paving the way for yawning. Katie came out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel as she made her way into her shared room to get dressed.

“Alright kids, it’s time to get ready for bed.” Gibbs said, picking Tony up off the floor with a small grunt.

“Not tired, Papa.” Tony yawned, settling his head on the older man’s shoulder.

“You sure about that, kiddo?” Gibbs asked with a smile forcing its way onto his face.

Tony nodded. “Super sure.”

“Well, then, I suppose you’re awake enough to apologize to Uncle Ducky and Cousin Abby for throwing food at the dinner table, along with Katie and Timmy?” Gibbs asked.

Katie came out of the bedroom, dressed in a nightgown and bunny slippers. “I was just gonna apologize now,” she said, rubbing her eyes. “And then if it’s okay I think I’m gonna sleep. You can lecture me all you want tomorrow.”

“That’s fair,” Gibbs said, bouncing Tony awake. “So, what do you three say for throwing food at the dinner table, and hitting Uncle Ducky and Cousin Abby?”

“Sorry for throwin’ food,” Tony mumbled.

“We didn’t mean to hit you,” Timmy tacked on.

“Though we really shouldn’t have even thrown it in the first place,” Katie said, nudging Timmy. Timmy giggled in response and Katie rolled her eyes. “Pig.”

Timmy oinked in response, making the kids all laugh. He did it a few more times before Gibbs shook his head and stopped him.

“All right. We will talk about  _ why _ you shouldn’t throw food tomorrow, when you three are awake enough to actually listen,” Gibbs said. “For now, let’s say goodbye to Uncle Ducky and Abby and then it’s bedtime for my three favorite kids.”

Abby hugged Tony, Timmy, and Katie in turn, kissing Gibbs’ cheek since he had his hands full. Ducky accepted hugs from Tony and Timmy, letting Katie give him a slightly longer one than the boys, and he returned her affection with a forehead kiss. “Good night, all of you,” he said, nodding to Gibbs and saying, “Jethro,” with a smile before taking Abby’s hand and leading her down the stairs and out the door.

“Let’s get you in bed,” Gibbs said Tony, carrying him into the bedroom and tucking him into the crib.

Katie climbed into her bed and Gibbs passed her the Pooky she made sure he kept safe. “Good night, sweetheart,” Gibbs whispered to her.

Timmy lingered in the doorway, digging his toes into the floor and staring at them as if they were the most interesting things in the world. “Timmy,” Gibbs said softly.

The boy looked up, uncertainty filling his every feature.

Gibbs held his arms out, fingers closing and opening once. “C’mere.”

Timmy rushed forward and hugged Gibbs for dear life. Gibbs rubbed circles on his back. “Time to go to bed,” Gibbs said softly. “And in the morning, you can be as big as you want. And, as always, you are forgiven.”

“I know,” Timmy mumbled into Gibbs’ shirt. “I love you, Papa.”

“I love you too,” Gibbs said, ruffling Timmy’s hair. “Now into bed with you, I’ll get your blanket.”

Timmy climbed onto the lower mattress of the bunk bed and Gibbs passed him his blanket, before tucking the boy in. “See you in the morning?” Timmy mumbled.   
Gibbs chuckled and nodded. “Of course.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, I hope you enjoyed reading this collaboration between TheGriefPolice and I as much as we enjoyed writing it. This was the culmination of half a week of work for at least 3 or so hours every night. That's like, half a day, guys. Not including editing. This was the most fun I've had writing in a while, and with luck it will happen again at some point! It's unbelievable how happy I am, typing this at 30 minutes to midnight, with a grin on my face. This was an amazing experience. Feel free to let us know what you thought, and have a good day!


End file.
